NSF/ANSI 305 Personal Care standard

What is the NSF/ANSI 305 Personal Care Standard?

NSF/ANSI 305 Personal Care standard is a private, specific organic standard for personal care products.

The standard encourages greater participation in the manufacturing of personal care products using organically grown ingredients. Additionally, the standard addresses issues around chemical processes, terminology, commercial availability for ingredients, product composition, ingredient calculations, and labeling.

To get certified to NSF/ANSI 305, personal care product operators must undergo a thorough evaluation and review by an accredited third-party certifier like OTCO.

What organic claims can I make with NSF/ANSI 305?

The NSF/ANSI 305 standard is the only U.S. standard for personal care products to make “contains organic ingredients” claims.

What are the NSF/ANSI 305 guiding principles?

NSF/ANSI 305 follows the same guiding principles as the USDA National Organic Program (NOP):

  • Protect the environment
  • Avoid the use of toxic ingredients in the manufacturing of organic products
  • Ensure traceability and organic integrity

NSF/ANSI 305 products follow similar restrictions to the USDA NOP and has comparable requirements:

  • Make use of organic agricultural ingredients and non-GMO ingredients
  • Provide assurances of contamination and/or commingling prevention
  • Maintain quality records for ingredient traceability
  • Use environmentally benign processing methods for non-organic ingredients

How “organic” does my NSF/ANSI 305 product need to be?

All NSF/ANSI 305 products need to contain at least 70 percent organic content.

Note

We’ve outlined a few NSF/ANSI 305 specific scenarios (multi-ingredient products, labeling, and sourcing organic and non-organic ingredients). Still have personal care product processing questions? Our Help Center’s Understanding Organic Food Business Certification section applies to NSF/ANSI 305 certification.

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